LAWRENCE GOLDHUBER/BIGMANARTS
Lawrence Goldhuber can be a witty, touching dancemaker, but
he has often seemed overly caught up in the humor of exploiting his
well-padded frame, to the detriment of his gifts. A new work, "Sleeping
Giant," seems to be unlike anything he has made before - an allegorical
tale of America's "rise, fall and rebirth" through the story of twin
brothers. Mr. Goldhuber has a gift for finding intriguing
collaborators, and here he has enlisted the graphic novelist Daniel
Duford, the acoustic chamber music group Tin Hat and the videographer
Janet Wong. And the fabulous dancers that he has gathered for this
piece - Arthur Aviles, Heidi Latsky and Brandin Steffensen among them -
are well worth the price of admission on their own. (Through Oct. 5.)
At 8 p.m., Abrons Arts Center, 466 Grand Street, at Pitt Street, Lower
East Side, (212) 352-3101, $20. (Sulcas)

Brandin Steffensen,Alice Kaltman, andArthur Aviles

Photo byJames Schriebl/Daniel Duford

Sleeping Giant is an allegorical warning about the myth of America. From our small town values to our adventures in empire, the piece revolves around twin brothers: the Superhero and the Sleeping Giant. One goes off to fight an unpopular war only to come back maimed and disillusioned, while the other becomes rooted in the ground to become a powerful underground force. The show features amazing artwork by Portland based sculptor Daniel Duford, seven great dancer/performers, live music from the tremendous Tin Hat, video by the peerless Janet Wong, costumes by the visionaryLiz Prince, sets by the wizard Gregory L. Bain, and stunningly lit by Robert Wierzel.

Sleeping Giant was developed, in part during the 2007-2008 Artist-in-Residence Program at the BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center, New York City.Sleeping Giant was further developed as part of the Mass Manufacturing residency program at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA)The creation of Sleeping Giant is made possible, in part, with funds from the Danspace Project 2008-09 Commissioning Initiative with support from the Mid-Size Presenting Organizations Initiative, implemented by the Non-profit Finance Fund and funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Sleeping Giant is made possible in part with public funds from the Manhattan Community Arts Fund, supported by The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

The original and live music for this evening's performance was commissioned and supported by The American Music Center Live Music for Dance Program.

Production support supplied by the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company.

BIGMANARTS has received continued generous funding from The Harkness Foundation for Dance.

Arthur Aviles

Photo by Josh Lehrer Photography

Heidi Latskyand the Bear

Photo byJosh LehrerPhotography

By Deborah Jowitt

The spectators leave MASS MoCA's Hunter Center theater slowly, gathering in knots to parse what they've just seen: Sleeping Giant, a collaboration by choreographer-director Lawrence Goldhuber, artist-graphic novelist Daniel Duford, the musical ensemble Tin Hat, video designer Janet Wong, production designer Gregory L. Bain, lighting designer Robert Wierzel, and costume designer Liz Prince. You can overhear queries like, "So the bear was the father of those two guys?" and "Wasn't that the Superhero who got squashed by the enormous foot? I thought I saw two men in the big tree. . . " and "So what happened in the end?"

In this stunning visual presentation, narrative is the weakest link-enigmatic in a maddening way. Perhaps by the time Sleeping Giant is shown in New York at the Abrons Art Center, October 2 through 5, Goldhuber and Duford will have realized that what they know-and want us to know-isn't always coming through clearly.

Sleeping Giant derives from an installation of that name by Duford that was shown in Marylhurst University's Art Gym in Portland, Oregon. As I understand it from perusing Duford's website, visitors to the gallery could wander among knee-high, free-standing, painted houses that conveyed the story of a small town's birth, rise, and eventual urbanization, while very large black-and-white, comic-book-style drawings on the gallery walls depicted a related tale of the Superhero and his twin, the Sleeping Giant. In the theater, Goldhuber and his dancers (including Arthur Aviles and Heidi Latsky, colleagues of his from the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company and beyond) depict the "Townies"-first as farm folks when the mighty forest was first cleared, then as suburban types, and finally as suited, clipboard-equipped executives in a corporate world (still, however, barefoot).

Projections of Duford's drawings and watercolors are skillfully manipulated via video to tell of the town's rise and transformations and the heroic twins' related adventures. Duford has mined both myth and popular culture, as in others of his works. The bear (the plus-sized Goldhuber in furs) does indeed hump the maiden in the forest (Latsky whipping her scarf like a hopeful stripper) before scarfing down the berries she's picked. You think not only of American Indian shamans, but of Leda and Zeus-as-swan. The mighty twins that result (Aviles and Brandin Steffenson) allude to Castor and Pollux and Romulus and Remus as well as to the Incredible Hulk, and Swamp Thing. There's a gigantic tree, like Yggdrasil of Norse legend. The story is meant, I think, as a parable concerning the destruction of the environment and America's rise to a superpower, corrupted by avarice and visions of world domination. How do I know this last? In part, from the rapid succession of slides-like frames in a comic strip-that show individual faces, mouths agape to shout "Empire!"

The most thrilling motion in the piece comes from the flying artwork that alights now on the back wall, now on small screens that lift and descend. During Tin Hat's overture (played live by its composers-Ben Goldberg (clarinet), Carla Kihlstedt (violin and voice), Mark Orton (guitar), and Ara Anderson (piano and trumpet)-fragmentary images of the coming Main Street whirl around like jigsaw puzzle pieces, finally fitting themselves into their proper places. Later in the work, black-and-white drawings appear as pages being turned by the winds of time. The terrific score propels the action with an ingenious mix of simplicity and sophistication, with the trappings of familiar song forms pushed out of shape by dissonant riffs, as life in small-town America sours.

What Goldhuber has put onstage is a sort of sketch itself-in keeping with its surround but not as rich as it might be. When all the cast members (including Rhetta Aleong, Alice Kaltman, and Tony Wicks) appear together in their various guises as townspeople, they either pantomime activities or face front and dance in unison. The choreography is fairly basic-skips and sashays and hoedown-style partnering in early scenes; big, grabby advancing steps later, in front of a drawing showing an endless warren of empty office cubicles. The most developed movement is performed by Steffensen and Aviles (always a marvel of nuanced power) as bouncing boy heroes and, in short order, as adolescents discovering their sexuality in a trio with Kaltman.

Certain large concepts are revealed with effective succinctness. The furthermost backdrop of primeval trees crumples to the floor, sacks (presumably of grain) are piled on it, and the whole thing is pulled offstage. Forest and farmland together yield to development. As greed takes over, the drawn figure of the Superhero diminishes in size until he's dwarfed by the city streets and stomped on by the aforementioned foot. But the significance of his flesh-and-blood counterpart (Steffenson) having a damaged arm and putting on a helmet to go to war is never pointed up or made relevant. And once the giant awakens, climbs the gigantic tree (in the gallery installation, trees had grown from his penis and nose while he slept), and looks down at the landscape and the people, what happens to him? Was the tree cut down? In the final section, titled "Cubicles and Gelato/Dreaming of a New Hero," the artwork office spins around its denizens as they run in a circle and come together like huddling footballers. Then the projected images disintegrate the way they tend to do in DVDs that have been rented out too often. What dream?

When the lights go out on Sleeping Giant, you can feel for a brief moment a question running through the audience: "Huh? That's the end??" Amid the flurry of fascinating images, Duford and Goldhuber don't often enough help us to understand and-more importantly, feel-what's happening while it happens. And, because the living people are shown primarily as stereotypes, they add color, but not full three-dimensionality to the artwork world they live in.

Lawrence Goldhuber has given us pageants (a downtown "Julius Caesar" in which Lady Macbeth put in an appearance), cheeky comedy (his hilarious depiction of Gluttony) and skewed autobiography, always illuminated by sly wit and often by understated poignancy. His own cheerful, impudent presence is often an important part of his works, but while he's appearing in Sleeping Giant, his ambitious hour-long piece that premieres this week, he's not the major focus.

Central to this production, an allegorical dance adaptation of Daniel Duford's 2006 installation of the same title, are twin brothers-somewhat analogous to Romulus and Remus-whose lives take diverging paths and between them, as the Superhero and the Sleeping Giant, chart this country's rise, fall and rebirth. Duford described his creation, which was on view in a huge gym at Oregon's Marylhurst University, as "a meditation on heroism and mythology in America." In presenting his own take on the artist's vision, Goldhuber is similarly not shying away from larger concerns.

"Last year, while doing some grant writing, I decided it was important to be a political artist, to address issues in my work. I still want to make an entertaining show, but it has to have a conscience," Goldhuber says at the end of a rehearsal day. "America has become a very strange place to be living, a place that we can't really be proud of in the world." Recalling his time with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, where he was a notable performer for a decade, he remarks, "When I used to tour, it was great to be an American. Now, I wouldn't even know how people feel about America."

Sleeping Giant, which is co-presented by Danspace Project and Abrons Arts Center, reunites the choreographer and director with several colleagues from his days with Jones and Zane. The cast includes dancers Arthur Aviles, who portrays the Superhero, and Heidi Latsky, with whom Goldhuber toured as a duet for several years. Janet Wong, whose video design animates and manipulates Duford's rich images, is the Jones/Zane troupe's associate director. The artists' work spills across the large backdrop and also floats across a scrim and a series of screens that descend periodically.

"I decided that I wanted to use as much of Daniel's art as possible," Goldhuber says. He and Duford met when he performed in Portland, Ore., where the artist is based, and Duford inquired about sketching him. "The show is generated from his ideas, his story."

"All the art work is his, and the manipulation of it is Janet's. He came and painted the giant forest backdrop, and supplied some extra graphics to her."

Duford's artwork includes comic panels, in which the dialogue between the now-adult brothers finds its parallel in their onstage movement, as well as vivid scenes of an early American town, highways, suburban sprawl and more, which Goldhuber incorporates into a panorama of America past and present. The Sleeping Giant installation included images covering vast walls as well as 20 tiny wooden houses on which part of the story was depicted, and large terra cotta sculptures.

An August residency at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art provided an invaluable opportunity to pull together the complex production, which Goldhuber has been working on for two years. "I knew all the elements, but it was important to get everybody together."

Joining the collaboration was Tin Hat, an acoustic musical ensemble who created the vibrant, ever-shifting score (moving from blues to jazz to bluegrass to klezmer) for the work. Duford had sent Goldhuber one of their recordings because it was music he listened to while creating his installation. "I listened to several discs, and thought, this music has such a narrative built into it," the choreographer says. Thanks to a grant he secured from the American Music Center, Tin Hat will perform the music live at Abrons.

Their distinctly American sounds resonate with the mythical American journey Goldhuber depicts in this work that is both narrative and allegory, with a nod to folk art alongside incorporation of up-to-date technology."

The Giant Awakens at Mass MoCA

By John E. Mitchell, North Adams Transcript

Friday,
August 15 NORTH ADAMS -- Lawrence Goldhuber is a big man and with his
body come big ideas -- this time involving a political statement built
around a dance performance adapting the world's most unusual graphic
novel.

Goldhuber is an actor, choreographer and dancer known
for his large stature -at around 300 pounds, he's an unusual figure to
see in a dance performance. He spent a decade performing with the Bill
T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and now creates and performs his own
work, such as "When the World Smells Like Bacon," as well as other
productions.

Goldhuber's "Sleeping Giant" will premiere at the
Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Arts after a couple years in the
making and it represents an unusual sequence of adaptations, a
multi-media performance built around the human body, adapted from a
sequential story-telling work presented originally as a gallery art
piece by Daniel Duford, with whom Goldhuber collaborated on the
adaptation.

Duford's original installation consisted of a
three-dimensional comic book painted on the sides of 20 miniature
houses with larger wall drawings depicting the adventures of The
Sleeping Giant and The Superhero. Duford is fascinated by huge comic
books heroes -- some of his favorites include The Hulk, Swamp Thing and
The Thing -- and this preoccupation informs his artwork. It was
fortuitous that he meet Goldhuber one night after a performance of
Goldhuber's show "The Life and Times of Barry Goldhubris" in Portland.

"Following
the performance, a gentleman came up to me -- Daniel Duford -- and
asked if I would sit for him to sketch," said Goldhuber. "He was
working on a series of public works sculptures based on the Golem and
because of my size, he wanted to do some sketches. Being available and
being an egotist, of course I said yes. We became friendly."

It
wasn't only Goldhuber's large frame that proved a perfect creative
match for Duford -- two years later, Goldhuber received a brochure for
Duford's "Sleeping Giant" show. An opportunity at the University of
Texas to use their motion capture lab clicked with the show
announcement and Goldhuber immediately wanted to adapt Duford's artwork
into a performance using the technology.

"It just seemed rich
and liked a great thing to adapt using motion capture," said Goldhuber.
"We decided to go ahead and Daniel came to New York and we worked for a
week developing and adapting this story which, it turns out, wasn't so
easy, because a gallery show does not a performance piece make, even
with the narrative."

Goldhuber was taken by Duford's creation,
which told the metaphorical tale of brothers -- The Superhero and The
Sleeping Giant -- who embody different aspects of the United States and
their lives through different eras. Duford's narrative uses the
Romulus/Remus myth as a springboard into superhero dramatics and all
wrapped around an examination of, as Goldhuber puts it, "the death of
the myth of the American Dream." As time moved on and the piece
developed, however, the original impetus for the collaboration fell to
the creative wayside.

Heidi Latsky, Rhetta Aleong, and Alice Kaltman

James Schriebl
Photography

Working with video artist Janet Wong, Goldhuber
devised a way to use projections of Duford's original artwork as the
backdrops for the performances within a complicated, ever-changing
system designed to compliment the dance rather than overtake it. The
screens become on-stage versions of the frames in which the graphic
novel unfolded -- they are the sequential structure to the performance.

"Some of the projections move, some don't, screens fly in and
out, but really it's incidental, it's really a dance performance," said
Goldhuber.

The show is Goldhuber's first foray into political
art that is done on purpose. He's no stranger to making statements,
hejust never really thought about it much before. He began to pay
attention to it when forced to sit down and write anessay for a grant
application. People had mentioned the notion that his performances were
those of a political creature,but he had never been in the position
where he felt he had to accentuate it.

"I seized on the idea --
I had been skirting around it -- that, yes, maybe I am a political
artist and making work that has not only entertainment but also social
commentary is very important to me," said Goldhuber. Duford's work
offered Goldhuber a perfect opportunity to intentionally explore his
political side, with the story's large themes of nationalism and its
examination of war and small town myths. At the same time, Goldhuber
didn't want the show to be so overtly political that there was nothing
to be enjoyed in it. His conscious tendency is toward the latter and he
didn't want that masked in the name of relevance -- if anything, he
preferred to let any high art content form naturally.

"I've
always strived to make entertaining shows and if it's great art then
everybody wins," said Goldhuber. "Really, I've always thought of myself
as an entertainer, my main thing is to entertain not to get a message
across -- but the second thing happens with the first."

Rounding
out the conception was the inclusion of Tin Hat, formerly Tin Hat Trio.
The band provided Duford's soundtrack when he made the original work
and the artist sent a CD along to Goldhuber so he could get the full
picture of what went into the work in order to pull things out of it
for the performance adaptation. "As I was listening to it, I thought,
'Wow, this music has a complete narrative built in,'" said Goldhuber.
"And it has an Americana feeling, kind of bayou. It's chamber music for
the 21st Century. It has a backwoods twang to it -- accordion, guitar,
violin. It was just perfect."

Tin Hat is one piece of a very
large puzzle and that is how Goldhuber looks at the production in
general. Because of the logistics, there has been a piecemeal quality
to the work thus far, using small groups for rehearsals and arranging
the technical aspects separate from the performances.

"I see how
it all is in my mind's eye, but nobody else has seen all the
components," said Goldhuber. "For example, the costume designer is
coming here today and all the dancers are coming through in two or
three hours, the video designer hasn't seen the costumes, the dancers
haven't see the video, the dancers haven't seen the other dancers. It's
kind of exciting." This means that what arrives at Mass MoCA will be a
fresh product -- a performance that isn't burdened by routine.

"What
I've done is I've made all the pieces of the puzzle and it's going to
be put together at Mass MoCA," said Goldhuber. "I've left some places
blank, which is both scary and will be a benefit, to do up there, to
make up there, to see what happens."

Brandin Steffensen,Alice Kaltman, andArthur Aviles

Photo byJames Schriebl/Daniel Duford

DANCING, EXTRA LARGE

'Sleeping Giant' at Mass MoCA Warns of myth about America

By Richard HoudekSpecial to the Eagle

Defying expectations has been a way of life for Lawrence Goldhuber. Fans of modern dance may recall Goldhuber as that loveably big husky guy who stood out prominently on the stage with the other members of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company- all slender and lithe as they moved about.

Goldhuber was unforgettable, and he was an inspiration to the rest of us big guys, illustrating that, despite our weighing in at extra large, a career in modern dance was not beyone the realm of possibility.

And now we meet Lawrence Goldhuber, the dance maker, an activity he appears to enjoy with as much relish. Not surprisingly, his company is called BIGMANARTS, the capital letters Goldhuber's choice.

Since last week, Goldhuber has been in residence at Mass MoCA, putting the finishing touches on his newest work, "Sleeping Giant," prior to its world premiere tommorrow evening at 9 in the museum's Hunter Center.

The work, according to Goldhuber, is an allegorical warning about the myth of America. From small town values to adventures in empire, the piece revolves around twin brothers- the Superhero and the Sleeping Giant.

"One goes off to fight in an unpopular war, and the other, thinking he can fly, goes off a cliff only to become embeded in the ground", explained Goldhuber during a phone conversation between rehearsals one day last weekend. "The embeded brother grows to be an underground force, that force being the American consciousness, or conscience, take your pick. What happens is the other brother, who goes off to war= a superhero capable of greatness, but also ineffectual- comes back disfigured, armless, weakened"

To some, such matters might induce depression, but Goldhuber calls the piece "an entertaining dance performance with a conscience."

Heidi Latsky.Tony Wicks,Lawrence Goldhuber,and Alice Kaltman

James Schriebl
Photography

"Sleeping Giant" is a fully staged effort, enlisting the services of
seven dancers and live music from Tin Hat, the acoustic chamber music
group based in San Francisco. They have been in rehearsals these two
weeks, along with video artist Janet Wong. Costumes are by Liz Prince,
sets, Gregory L. Bain, and lighting by Robert Wierzel that, according
to Goldhuber, is a character on its own.

The show is based on a 2006 installation - a kind of life-size comic
book, as Goldhuber describes it - by Daniel Duford, a Portland,
Ore.-based artist who painted gallery walls with a series of comic book
scenes that dwarfed visitors and hinted at a larger story.

Goldhuber said most of the story could be unraveled if the viewer
stooped to examine images that played out on 20 small wooden houses
forming a town at the center of the gallery.

The Superhero, a very American character depicted on the walls and
houses, had small-town roots and global aspirations, explained
Goldhuber. He was a direct descendent of fictional superheroes and
would-be superheroes, but his character and exploits also were
metaphors for those of real world political and economic superpowers.

"You can see the original 'Sleeping Giant' installation, including the
30-ft. wall drawing and 20 miniature houses along with the while story
of the brothers born of a bear father, on his Website,
danielduford.com," suggested Goldhuber.

Arthur Aviles,Alice Kaltman andBrandin Steffensen

Photo byJames Schriebl/Daniel Duford

Goldhuber said he and Duford met on a visit the choreographer made to the Portland Institute of Contemporary Arts. Later, the two discussed turning "Sleeping Giant" into a dance.

"He came to New York to work on story boards, plotting how to make the
gallery installation into a dance," recalled Goldhuber. "The dancers
are performing the story, so we didn't need to animate any characters
or paint backdrops." The talented Wong has taken Daniel's artwork and made it into video
projections for this piece. Dancers perform in front of, and behind,
screens that fly in and out. "We tried to make this a really visual allegory - the American dream dream," Goldhuber said.

Following his training as an actor at Boston University, Goldhuber
began his work with Jones/Zane in 1985, appearing on tour and creating
roles in such landmark dances as "Still/Here" and "Last Supper at Uncle
Tom's Cabin/The Promised Land." In 1995 he received a New York Dance
and Performance (Bessie) Award for "sustained achievement as an
influential presence in modern dance," and he served as host for the
group's 2002 award ceremonies.

Duford told Goldhuber that he was listening to Tin Hat's music while
doing his original wall hangings - the group's leader is one of
Duford's best friends. The freewheeling, multi-sound 21st-century music of the ensemble,
earlier known as Tin Hat Trio, has embraced in its scores elements of
southern blues, bluegrass, neoclassical, eastern European folk music
and avant-garde musical literature.

Guitarist Mark Orton and violinist Carla Kihlstedt are joined
frequently on their CDs by guests, among them Tom Waits and Willie
Nelson, as well as friends such as clarinetist Ben Goldberg, harpist
Zeena Parkins, and Ara Anderson, a master of several keyed instruments,
trumpet and glockenspiel. "They come with a van of stuff, technically speaking," observed Goldhuber.

"Sleeping Giant" was developed in part during the 2007-08
artist-in-residence program at Manhattan Community College Tribeca
Performing Arts Center in New York.

Goldhuber said "Sleeping Giant" provides a medium for expressing his outlook on current social and political conditions. "In this case," he said, "we're referring to our past glory as leader
of the free world. That was somewhat diminished as of late because of
what's happened with the Iraq war. "We can't be morally superior any more, can we, if we are accused, and
proved, of being guilty of torture, for example. We lose the moral
authority. It's just embarrassing now, harder to be proud."

Rhetta Aleong (Dancer) Likes and enjoys working in Mr. Larry's process. She is happy to have an opportunity to try it on again. She is also a longtime member of Reggie Wilson/Fist and Heel Performance Group, writes poetry to help her color and deal with reality and has an ongoing relationship with the Divine, in all its forms. Respect to the birthplace, MayMay, Georgie, Dr. Peez, Nilla & Choc-E, Core Peeps and all Above, Below, Ahead and Behind. Love is all.

Ara Anderson (Tin Hat) is a performer, bandleader, and composer from San Francisco. He performs mainly on trumpet, but also plays bass trumpet, sousaphone, piano, pump organ, celesta, and glockenspiel. He is known for his own bands Iron & the Albatross and Boostamonte!, as well as his sideman work with Tom Waits, Sean Hayes, and Jonathan Richman. Ara's compositions (along with others by his Tin Hat band mates) are featured in the film "La Giusta Distanza" (directed by Carlo Mazzacurati) and a soon-to-be released film production of Tennessee Williams' screenplay "The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond."

Arthur Aviles (Dancer) is a queer NewYork-Rican from the Bronx with a B.A. from Bard College, class of '87. He was a member of Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company from '87 to '95, where he received a New York Dance and Performance (Bessie) Award in 1988. He has choreographed for and danced with his 6 member dance troupe Typical Theatre since '96. Co-founder of the Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance (BAAD!) since '98. Since '02 he has been Director of the Bronx Dance Coalition which puts out the Bronx Dance magazine. This is his third show with BIGMANARTS. Visit www.bronxacademyofartanddance.com for more information.

Gregory L. Bain (Production Design) has been active in media technologies, arts administration, theatre production, commercial and theatrical lighting design, sound design and stage management, as well as audio and video recording technologies, since 1971. During 30+ years of extensive world touring with numerous theatre, music, and dance companies, Mr. Bain has also co-directed a New York City based production company, GLB Presents. In 2003, Gregory directed his media technologies career, and stage management and theatre crafts skills toward becoming more active in early childhood education, human development, and social service activities that promote education, empowerment, and advancement opportunities within underprivileged and underserved families and communities. In 2007 Mr. Bain received a Masters Degree in social work (MSW). 2008 celebrates his 22nd year of collaborating with Lawrence Goldhuber.

Daniel Duford (Story and Artwork) is an artist and writer. He makes site-specific wall drawings, paintings, comics and sculpture to tell stories that meditate on myth in the American psyche. In July he had a solo show at The Contemporary Art Center in Atlanta based on his graphic novel The Naked Boy. In 2009 he will install a major public art piece in Old Town and Chinatown in Portland as part of TriMet's light rail extension. His sculpture and drawings have been shown nationally including The Clay Studio in Philadelphia, The Albuquerque Art Museum, Contemporary Craft Gallery, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art's and The Art Gym at Marylhurst University. His illustration and comic work has appeared in Tin House Magazine and the self-published titles, Radio Relay Towers, The Green Man of B Street and We Are on Our Mind (with C.Hollow). He was recently featured in Downy Bird Art Kingdom an anthology of West Coast artists. His writing has appeared in Parabola, Artweek, ARTnews, The Organ, The Bear Deluxe, Ceramics Monthly, Ceramics: Technical and Ceramics: Art and Perception. With his wife Tracy Schlapp he works under the collaborative name Cumbersome Multiples. This year Cumbersome Multiples collaborated with Rafael Oses and Carla Kihlstedt for the performance Necessary Monsters at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. Cumbersome Multiples also recently completed a project in Pont Aven, Brittany. He has a BFA from the University of New Mexico. He teaches at Pacific Northwest College of Art.

Lawrence Goldhuber (Director/Choreographer/Dancer) Works include choreographing Whose Broads Stripes on the steps of the Federal Hall National Memorial, Hoody for DTW, Julius Caesar Superstar at Danspace Project, The Cost of Living with British group DV8 in Sydney, London and Hong Kong, and acting in SWELL(ing) Relatives by Valeria Vasilevski at La Mama E.T.C. Born in New York City, Mr. Goldhuber trained as an actor at Boston University. He received a 1995 New York Dance and Performance "Bessie" Award for "sustained achievement as an influential presence in modern dance" and served as the co-host for the 2002 Awards. He is the recipient of a 2002 Fellowship in Choreography from NYFA, as well as funding from the Jerome, Harkness, Bossak/Heilbron, and Joyce Theater Foundations, the Manhattan Community Arts Fund, and the American Music Center. His work has been commissioned by The Joyce Theater, DTW, PICA, Danspace Project, PS122, LMCC, and Jacob's Pillow. His company, Goldhuber & Latsky performed internationally and received commissions from The American Dance Festival (Primus/ Tamaris Fellowship), The Whitney Museum, The Cannes International Festival de Danse, PS122, and Celebrate Brooklyn! Goldhuber began working with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company in 1985 (guest appearances in 2004, 06, 08) touring worldwide and created roles in such landmark dances as Still/Here and Last Supper at Uncle Tom's Cabin (both seen on PBS). Other work with Mr. Jones includes Tippet's New Year (directed by Sir Peter Hall) for the Houston Grand Opera, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, and the BBC, and Lost in the Stars for Boston Lyric Opera. Other dance and theater work includes Fred Ho's Journey Beyond the West at BAM, and the title role in Golem for the Henson International Puppet Festival. In addition to performances with Keely Garfield in New York and London, and Sherry Vine at Wigstock, Larry performed regularly at the legendary downtown club Jackie 60. His solo shows, When the World Smells Like Bacon and The Life and Times of Barry Goldhubris played at PS 122, where he was on the advisory board for many years. Visit www.goldhuber.com for more information and photos.

Alice Kaltman (Dancer) has been dancing professionally since 1977. Her own choreography was presented nationally throughout the 1980's in NYC by Dance Theater Workshop and Danspace Project, among other venues. At the same time Alice appeared in other people's work, and continues to do so long after hanging up her own dance-maker's hat. Most notably and recently, Alice danced with Kate Gyllenhaal's MOCO from 2000-2006 and in projects with the fabulous Heidi Latsky since 1991. This is her debut with BIGMANARTS. She is thrilled to be working with Larry and all the other amazingly talented, cool folks on Sleeping Giant.

Heidi Latsky (Dancer) is currently the Artistic Director of HEIDI LATSKY DANCE. She has received two nominations from the New York Innovative Theatre Awards for her work with director Mary Fulham and is a faculty member at Hofstra University. Recent commissions have included Li Chaio Ping Dance, Point Park College, Hofstra University, Infinity Dance Theater and the AIDS Service Center of New York City. Her latest project GIMP has been presented at various venues throughout the United States and will have its official premiere in November at the North Fourth Arts Center in Albuquerque and its NYC premiere at The Abrons Arts Center. It is the subject of two documentaries and an NPR story. Having worked with Lawrence with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company from 1987-1993 and then with him in Goldhuber & Latsky from 1993-2000, she is thrilled to be reunited for this project. www.heidilatskydance.net

Eric Notke (Production Manager) Eric is the Production Manager for the Performing Arts at MASS MoCA in North Adams, MA where Sleeping Giant recently had its world premiere. He is excited to continue his involvement with the production here in New York City.

Mark Orton (Tin Hat) Founding Tin Hat member Mark Orton is a composer/guitarist based in Portland, OR. Having grown up in a musical family, he is a multi-instrumentalist as well, performing on all manner of keyboards, strings, and percussion. He has written soundtracks for or contributed music to many films, both feature and documentary, including "The Good Girl," "The Real Dirt on Farmer John," "Everything Is Illuminated," "Sweet Land," and "Comrades in Dreams," along with the upcoming release "The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond". His score for an experimental film by choreographer Laurie McLeod was featured in a Mass MOCA installation entitled "Waterhaven #1 (LuoYong's Dream)". Orton is busy as an arranger as well, working alongside producer Larry Klein while arranging strings for Madeleine Peyroux and Vienna Teng, among others. Outside of Tin Hat, Orton performs with his Aurora Septet and Lap Steel Trio as well as with the alt-country band The Old Joe Clarks. Additionally, he is a founding member of "Famous Last Words And Music", an artist collective devoted to the production and live performance of experimental radio theatre.

Seth Reiser (Associate Lighting Design) Seth also designs lighting for theatre and dance in and around New York City. Recent credits include: The Cabaret and Performance Conference (The Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center), Disinformation with Reggie Watts/Tommy Smith (The Public Theatre, UTR), Rabbit Hole/Cigdem Onat, People Like Us/Silas Reiner and Kristen Arnold, The Dripping Portrait/Meg Madorin and Chelsea Bonosky, But I Expected/Jennifer Jones, I am a Camera/Constnace McCord (NYU), The End/Christopher Denham (Kiss Productions), Days and Nights, page 121, 11 and 12/Marc Weitz (Purple Man Theatre Company), Shakespeare's Tap Sonnets/Awoye Timpo (Novisi). Up coming projects include: The Women/Andrea Ferran, and The Vanished/Awoye Timpo with Novisi where Seth is the resident designer. Seth has his MFA from NYU.

Brandin Steffensen (Dancer) has danced with many choreographers including Yoshiko Chuma, Brian Brooks Moving Company, Tiffany Mills Company, Christopher Williams, Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance, and Jody Oberfelder Dance Projects. He performed in Keely Garfield's latest production Limerence. Brandin was raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. There he earned his BFA in Modern Dance from the University of Utah and danced with the repertory Ririe Woodbury Dance Company touring works by choreographers including Alwin Nikolais, Doug Varone, Wayne McGregor, Charlotte Boye-Christensen, Sean Curran, Keith Johnson, and Stephen Koester, among others. Currently, he is performing his solo adaptation of Deborah Hay's N.E.W.S. as he travels. Layard Thompson, Ede Thurrell, and he comprise NEWS GROUP and perform not the same solo an evening of Deborah Hay solo adaptations. Brandin has produced his own works in his show N.E.W.S. & More @ 8. He is the artistic director of the Catskill Collaborative, whose mission is to develop an audience for dance in Catskill through shows and artist residencies.

Tin Hat Forging a new acoustic sound that defies categorization while striking universal chords, Tin Hat makes freewheeling chamber music for the 21st century. Garnering widespread critical acclaim for its five CDs , the group has also earned high marks for their captivating performances, sometimes including original soundtracks for classic silent film animation from Russia. Tin Hat's international audiences have grown over the years through many concert tours in the United States and in Europe. Founded in 1997 in San Francisco by violinist Carla Kihlstedt, guitarist Mark Orton, and accordionist and pianist Rob Burger, the original Tin Hat Trio was formed as a composer's collective, committed to creating a purely acoustic music that blurred the lines between composition and improvisation. All of their recordings feature special guests, among them such luminaries as Tom Waits and Willie Nelson, as well as their luminescent friends like clarinetist Ben Goldberg and harpist Zeena Parkins. After Rob Burger left the group in late 2004, Goldberg became a permanent member, along with multi-instrumentalist Ara Anderson, a San Francisco native. Outside the recording studio, Tin Hat pursues an active touring schedule both in America and Europe, as well as a number of special projects. The original trio performed as a quartet (with tuba), with a brass ensemble, and with a 12-piece ensemble of strings and winds. In 2003, they performed Orton's triple concerto for trio and 21 strings, commissioned by The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. Tin Hat has also accompanied the silent insect animations of Ladislaw Starewicz with a series of original scores which are performed live with these groundbreaking films. Attesting to the cinematic qualities of their music, Tin Hat is also featured on a number of "un-silent" film soundtracks, including "The Good Girl," "The Real Dirt on Farmer John", "Sweet Land," "Everything is Illuminated," "La Giusta Distanza," and the upcoming release "The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond." Dance and theater companies are other frequent users of Tin Hat's music,e.g. Pilobolus, Les 7 Doigts de la Main, Koresh Dance and Spectrum Dance Theater/Donald Byrd, Berkeley Repertory Theater, and The Pickle Family Circus.

Tony Wicks (Dancer, assistant to the choreographer) is a graduate of Circle in the Square Theater School. He was Assistant to the Choreographer on both BIGMANARTS' production of Julius Caesar Superstar at Danspace Project, and Keely Garfield's Disturbulence at Dance Theater Workshop, and worked as an assistant to the media artist Gretchen Bender. His Molly House Theater Company premiered in 2006 at BAAD! (Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance) with the production Two by Copi. These are his first dance performances.

Robert Wierzel (Lighting Design) is pleased to continue his collaboration with Mr. Goldhuber. Robert has worked in theatre, dance, new music and opera, with artists and directors from diverse disciplines and backgrounds, on stages throughout the country and abroad. Mr. Wierzel has a long history (22 years) with choreographer Bill T. Jones and his company, the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company (several Bessie Awards, along with productions at the Lyon Opera Ballet and Berlin Opera Ballet). Other dance collaborations include choreographers Goldhuber & Latsky (Worst Case Scenario-Bessie Award), Margo Sappington, Alonzo King, Sean Curran, Molissa Fenely, Susan Marshall, Charlie Moulton, Arthur Aviles, Trisha Brown, (How long), and Doug Varone, (Orpheus and Euridice - Obie Award-Special Citation). Other credits- Broadway: David Copperfield's Dreams and Nightmares, The Deep Blue Sea. Regional: A.C.T. San Francisco; Arena Stage; Shakespeare Theatre DC; Hartford Stage; Long Wharf Theatre; Goodman Theatre; The Guthrie; Mark Taper Forum; Chicago Shakespeare; Westport Country Playhouse, among many others. Opera companies of Paris (Garnier); Berlin; Tokyo; Toronto; Montreal; Boston; Glimmerglass Opera; New York City Opera; San Diego; San Francisco; Houston; Washington; Seattle; Virginia; Portland; Vancouver; and Chicago, among others. Recent New York project: Fela! A new musical, directed and choreographed by Bill T. Jones.

Janet Wong (Video Design) Born in Hong Kong and lived in Hong Kong, Singapore, London, Berlin and since 1993, New York. Began working with video in 2004 and has created video design for the stage for Lawrence Goldhuber, Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR), and the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. Janet was trained as a dancer and is currently the Associate Artistic Director of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. To find out more visit www.jvideowork.com.